Press Release 28th December 2011

Don Valley Railway hold their Annual General Meeting at 7.30pm on Monday 16th January 2012 at the Harlequin Pub, Nursery Street, Sheffield.

At this meeting DVR will announce that railway safety training will be offered to anyone volunteering to help with the project and set out how new-innovative-British-built light weight trains could be trialled on the Don Valley Line which could potentially transform branch line services across the country.

Volunteers wanted:

Don Valley Railway are putting into place an action plan for starting conservation voluntary work on the route. This involves inviting volunteers to take part in track safety training. So anyone interested in volunteering should Contact Don Valley Railway via our email at donvalleyrailway@hotmail.co.uk

Or call 07986 759259 for further details, or just turn up on Monday 16th.

Don Valley are also to engage in discussions with Network Rail regarding a plan to realise the aspiration to start environmental enhancements along the Don Valley Line. It is hoped that this could result in one of the disused stations on the route being re-furbished such that it can allow rail tours and folk trains to visit the area and for passengers to disembark.

Introduction of a passenger service:

At the AGM research into how the business case for funding introducing a commuter rail service serving the Upper Don Valley between Sheffield and Stocksbridge can be improved with the use of innovative rail vehicle technology provided by West Midlands company Parry People Movers.

For some years Parry People Movers Ltd, based in Cradley Heath in the West Midlands have operated their unique rail vehicle on the One kilometre long Stourbridge Town to Stourbridge Junction line linking the town centre to the rail network.

Having received a grant to develop a suitable train to operate on branch lines which raises the quality of service and reduces the cost of operation. The Don Valley Line with its good quality track along a busy commuter corridor into a large city represents a good test bed for for Parry.

Notes

1, Don Valley Railway aims to introduce passenger services between Stocksbridge/Deepcar and central Sheffield using the currently freight-only railiway line between and serving Corus Steelworks in Stocksbridge from Woodburn Junction in Sheffield with the future aspiration of extending this service along the route of the Woodhead Rail line from the Junction at Deepcar.

2, The Don Valley Railway Business Plan is based on developing three main aspects:

Delivery of a business plan for a commuter rail service between Deepcar/Stocksbridge and Sheffield

Develop Environmental improvements along the route

Develop fundraising

Look at ways of integrating the Don Valley Railway project into other rail aspirations linking the service to Penistone and possibly Manchester vial the Woodhead Rail Route and to the East into the South Yorkshire Rail Network.

3, In 2010 Ove Arup and Partners Ltd (Arup) produced an engineering feasibility study on behalf of Don Valley Railway to evaluate the potential for operating a reliable commuter rail service along the route between Sheffield and Stocksbridge which it is hoped will contribute to creating a business case for the re-opening of passenger services on the rail link.

4, Arup’s study recommended that the easiest to get into operation is a rail service operated by a single Diesel multiple unit between a re-opened station at Sheffield Victoria and Deepcar providing a half-hourly.

5, This service would require the relatively small cost of £4.3million to implement but if done on a tranditional franchised basis it would require a subsidy. However that subsidy would be lower than the average subsidy per passenger for rail travelers on SYPTE local services (based on 2006 data).

6, As part of the business plan Don Valley Railway are investigating cheaper methods of operation. As part of this we have investigated Parry People Movers ultra light rapid transit.

7, Parry People Movers are small light weight rail vehicles that can operate on rail lines Further information can be found about the project on Parry People Movers Website. www.parrypeoplemovers,com